I was asked the other day about starches and a no carb weight loss plan. If you are trying to limit the amount of carbohydrate intake in your diet then you will want to strictly limit the amount of starches. Starch is actually a form of carbohydrate. Starch is a polysaccharide carbohydrate which has several glucose molecules attached in a chain. So to talk about no carb starch is really not possible since starch is a carb.
In the US the starches we are most familiar with are derived from wheat, rice, and potatoes. These are even called starchy foods by the general population. When writing a no carb grocery list you will want to avoid foods such as bread, potatoes, rice, cereals, noodles and pastas. Tortillas are also high starch foods and thus high in carbs. This brings up one of the problems with a low carb or no carb foods based diet, these starchy foods are staples of our diet. Historically, in the US a meal generally consisted of a meat, a starch, and a vegetable. This wasn’t as bad as it is today because the starches were generally bound up in a less refined product than we eat now. So for example, wheats were whole wheat which meant the entire wheat berry was used which included the high starch center, the wheat germ and the fiber from the wheat husk.
No Carb Foods
By eating whole wheat as opposed to the more common refined white wheat found in bread products today we slowed down the intake of glucose into the blood stream. Basically the small intestine had to work harder to extract the carbohydrates and thus it took longer for the glucose to be absorbed. This tended to level out the amount of blood sugar in the body and made it easier for the pancreas to manufacture the correct levels of insulin to balance it out. By going to refined wheat which has the fiber and germ removed we have allowed the small intestine to speed up the intake of glucose. This is why when you eat white bread or white rice you get an almost instant spike in blood sugar. We have refined the starch product to such a point that almost the only part of the plant that is left is the starch or easily digested carbohydrates. So as you can see if you want to eat low and no carb foods you will have to stay away from traditional starchy foods.
This is one of the downsides to an effective low carb or no carb diet because traditionally we have used these starchy foods as fillers. They tend to be very bulky and thus give a feeling of fullness in the stomach. These foods also give a feeling of fullness because they spike the blood sugar so fast that the receptors in your brain signal you can stop eating because there is enough fuel for bodily functions. The trouble with the rapid rise in glucose in the blood is the pancreas goes into overdrive and pumps insulin into the blood stream to counteract the sugar spike. If your pancreas is operating properly, this increased insulin level causes a dramatic drop in blood sugar. Now you no longer feel full even though you still have food in your system. The pancreas causes the sugar levels to undershoot their preferred levels and now your brain says you need more food to get the sugar levels back up. This yoyo affect can be played out several times a day if you are eating foods high in easily digested carbohydrates.
In the twentieth century this yoyo affect was increased by the introduction of breakfast foods based on starch foods. When the day was started with an intake of starchy wheat or rice based cereals the yoyo would start. At first the body would be satisfied with the meal because the food was filling to the stomach and the easily digested carbs were being absorbed into the blood stream. Within a while though the insulin levels would increase and the blood sugar levels would decrease. At this point we would start to feel tired and hungry once again. The best no carb breakfast foods are ones that do not cause this spike with the resulting decrease. A breakfast like this would be one based on proteins. Eggs with a breakfast meat are good if you want to balance out the blood sugar levels in your body. I am sure you have experienced this rapid increase and decrease of glucose when you have eaten a big breakfast of pancakes with syrup or some other sweetener like jam, jelly, or powdered sugar. At first you feel great because the easily digested carbs are flooding into the blood stream and giving you an energy boost. But it isn’t long before your body reacts to the increased levels and ramps up insulin production from the pancreas. The insulin causes the liver to convert the blood sugar but it can’t be shut down fast enough and so levels actually go below what is needed for healthy functions. At this point, usually an hour or two after eating, you get tired and sluggish and feel like a nap. This may be one reason why so many men fall asleep in church although it could also be the sermon needed some sprucing up.
No Carb Recipes
Some people complain that they need starches in the diet because there are no low fat carb foods available and they want to limit the amount of fat intake in their eating plan. This is not true. In fact, the best no carb foods are those that are low in fat. This would include all meat products with the fat trimmed off. Turkey breast is a good low fat no carb food alternative along with wild game. Beef can also be low fat if it is trimmed and the best source is beef that has been raised on grass. The trouble is finding beef in the grocery store that has been feed on grass instead of in a feed lot where the goal is rapid weight gain. They achieve this quick increase in weight by force feeding the cattle. This causes the animal to store fat within the meat and thus increases the overall fat content of even trimmed cuts.
Another low fat carb alternative is using no carb egg whites instead of the whole egg. I like to use the fake eggs that come in a box in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. They look like regular eggs in an omelet and I think they taste just as good. The fake eggs are low in fats and very high in protean. They are one of the very good high protein no carb foods that are available today. This no carb high protein food should be a part of any plan to manage your weight.
Other good no carb foods for breakfast if you are not concerned with the fat content would be bacon and sausage. Make sure you read the nutritional information on the sausage because some manufacturers use starches as fillers in the product. 100% sausage though is zero carbs and fits nicely into a no carb or low carb diet.
It is interesting to see how our meal changes over the last 100 years have changed the make up of carbs that we consume. It used to be that breakfast was the biggest meal of the day and consisted of a wide variety of foods including no carb meat and low carb vegetables along with starchy foods. This variation of foods balanced out the levels of blood sugar and gave our ancestors the energy they needed for a hard days work.
It has only been the last 100 years that we have dramatically changed our diet and we are now seeing the consequences. Diabetes rates are skyrocketing in the US. The combination of not eating a low carb diabetic diet along with a massive reduction in normal daily exercise is taking its toll on the population. The best things we can do to combat this is get more physical activity and eat more no carb foods.